In the past, we would not buy a product without touching it and seeing it with our own eyes. Some people still think this way, but their number is steadily shrinking. The reason is undoubtedly the rise of e-commerce sites with digitalization, and the comfort they give customers of feeling as if they were seeing the product in person.
But have you ever wondered what to pay attention to when setting up and running an e-commerce site?
One of the methods you can use to increase conversions on your e-commerce site is to optimize your payment pages as well as possible. High cart abandonment rates on payment pages cause your conversion rates to drop.
To prevent this, or to reduce cart abandonment rates, there are some improvements you need to make on these pages.
1. Reduce the number of steps on your payment pages
Your payment pages need to be very simple. Your visitors should be able to complete the payment with as few clicks as possible. For this reason, you should reduce and simplify the steps on your payment pages as much as you can.
2. Place payment buttons at the top and bottom of the page
You can make your “Pay” or “Buy Now” buttons more noticeable by placing them at both the top and the bottom of the page. This way, people buying multiple products can proceed to the purchase page without having to scroll to the bottom or the top of the page.
3. Offer an option to return to shopping from the payment page
Consumers may add products to their carts and reach the payment page, but at that point they may want to look at another product. To make this easier for them, you can offer an option such as “Back to Shopping” so the visitor can be sent back to shopping.
4. Use different colors for the “Buy Now” and “Continue Shopping” buttons
To avoid confusion and increase awareness on payment pages, you can use different colors for these two buttons.
5. Do not make registration mandatory to pay
To increase your conversions, do not require registration on your website. Users should be able to pay through guest checkout when they buy a product. They may not want to keep signing up for different sites. That is why it is very important not to make registration mandatory.
6. Users should be able to save their carts
Users who visit your site may not want to buy right away the products they put in the cart after logging in. That is why it is very important for you to save these products. Even if the visitor leaves the site, they can see these products again the next time they come. In addition, you can guide users back to shopping by sending them a reminder email after they abandon their cart.
7. Add a print option for the items in the cart
Users shopping on your site may want to print out the product information in their cart. They may need to get these products approved by their managers, or they may want to keep the product details in writing. That is why it is very important to add this feature to your payment pages.
8. Show the product details again before confirmation
Before the purchase is completed, show consumers the details of the products they are about to buy one last time. This way, you prevent consumers from paying for a missing or wrong product.
9. Provide detailed shipping information
One of the most important factors that increase cart abandonment rates is not presenting shipping information in detail. For this reason, if you offer more than one shipping option on payment pages, it is very important to state the details and prices of these alternatives.
10. Present related products before the payment is completed
It is also very important to present users with other products that may be related to the products the visitor is about to buy before the purchase is made. Presenting these products after the purchase will not be very effective. For this reason, make sure to use cross-selling techniques before the purchase.
11. State your contact information on these pages as well
Trust is still a major issue in e-commerce, and to overcome it you need to reassure consumers. For this reason, including your contact information on payment pages reassures and informs consumers about how they can reach you if they run into a problem.
12. Offer free shipping above a certain amount
Offering free shipping when users’ purchases exceed a certain limit is another factor that can increase your conversions. In addition, if you offer free shipping on purchases of 100 TL and above, when a consumer makes an 80 TL purchase you can show messages telling them they will not pay any shipping fee if they spend another 20 TL. This way, the consumer may be inclined to buy another product rather than pay a shipping fee.
13. Show the total amount before the purchase
Show the total price of the products in the user’s shopping cart before they reach the final payment page. Add the shipping fee, if any, to this price and present it to the user with the details. This way, the consumer can see how much they are spending. If there are products they want to add or remove, they can decide based on this amount.
In short, you need to follow the customer at every stage of shopping and, through both information and proper guidance, get them to buy from you.
As the saying goes: THE CUSTOMER IS KING :)
